Former Editor Appeals For Balance


Editor,
Recent studies have pointed out that faculty members at American colleges are overwhelmingly liberal. While this is no surprise to anyone, the lack of outraged response from academia reveals a troubling hypocrisy.
The academic left has long lauded diversity. Their reasons are twofold: 1) a population of diverse people offers a greater range of backgrounds, views and perspectives, enriching everyone’s learning environment, and 2) a fair and just institution does not exclude individuals simply because they are from a different group or background.
Academia applies the aforementioned principles proactively, recruiting racially and socio-economically diverse students to its institutions. Its claim is that the institutions are better environments for the robust exchange of ideas as a result.
The principles that demand racial and socio-economic diversity seem to apply to ideological diversity as much as to any other type. Ideological diversity in a college’s faculty offers a greater range of backgrounds, views, and perspectives to students. And it seems reasonable to assume that someone should not be disqualified from academia because of their political views.
Yet, the faculty of this college does not demand ideological diversity, and the editorial board of this newspaper (one of whom signed a letter in these pages one semester ago calling for a diverse newspaper staff) wrote in their Ed-Board last week that “We do not believe this paper need be ideologically ‘balanced.’”
At an institution of higher learning, diversity of ideas seems to be of paramount importance. How is it that a community that claims principled support of diversity—that would go to great lengths if racial or gender diversity were lacking—completely ignores Pomona’s lack of ideological diversity. (This hypocrisy is especially egregious when perpetrated—without explanation—by the faculty.)
Hoping for a response,
Conor Friedersdorf ’02
Former Editor-in-Chief, TSL